I am a proud Libertarian Lefty

Now that I’ve let my Libertarian / Commie secret out of the bag, I might as well share some evidence of it to you all. You might have seen this quiz before and if not, doubtlessly you’ve seen some others like it. Clicking on the picture will take you to the site to do the quiz. Go ahead and do it, it only takes about 10 minutes and it’s interesting.

Feel free to post your results as comments here, particularly the other ‘koggers. I’d like to see just who we’re dealing with here 🙂 For what it’s worth, the raw numbers for my score are (-8.75) for Left/Right and (-7.23) for Libertarian/Authoritarian.

A brave new world…

When it comes to politics, I have two voices inside me – my inner Commie and my inner Libertarian. They fight things out continuously and quite frequently disagree, thus on some issues I will waffle back and forth a fair bit depending on which voice currently has my ear, however on most things they come to peaceful settlement after a time.

And then there are times when both voices scream in unison so loudly that I have to react in some way, and commonly that means it’s time to write something down or call Flash or Briguy.

A week ago I wrote about what I thought was an absolutely retarded idea being contemplated by the US Senate (I know, it’s unheard of!) – injecting RFIDs into “guest workers” so they could easily keep track of their possessions employees and make sure they weren’t off getting health care or a fair wage. In a comment to that article, Dan indicated that RFIDs are of great interest to the business sector as well as fascists, and this got me thinking about little antennas and transistors.

In today’s Globe & Mail there is an article about just how useful and lovely these little RFIDs are for keeping track of documents and poker chips and whatnot. That “whatnot” got me thinking, documents and poker chips being of no interest to me, and it perked up the ears of both my inner Libertarian, who doesn’t like giving up information without being asked for it, and my inner Commie, who knows that when business-types get this excited about something it is not going to be cheaper or good for me, no matter what they say. They agreed that it is probably okay for a company to sell me something with a RFID that prevents me from walking out without paying (if that’s what they feel they need to do), but that is where it should end; when I walk out the door.

Naturally, my inner Libertarian asks “what guarantees are there that this is going to end when I walk out the door?” (A paranoic, is he.) As it turns out, there is absolutely nothing either legal or technical, that prevents these things from being activated at any time, provided the antenna is functional and still connected to the little chip.

Just think of the uses! In addition to putting them on items, you could put them into a card, say a debit or “loyalty” card, which could be scanned as you walk about the store and perhaps the sales clerk could fire up their little database and see if you’re worth serving. Or maybe they could quickly look up a history of your past purchases and they could “spontaneously” suggest an item or upgrade that you might be interested in and voila, you are out a few more bucks.

A brave new world it is, indeed my friend.

So how do you get rid of, or disable these things? The first step is finding the little bugger, which might not always be easy because they can be shimmed in between sheets of paper, or even built into the soles of shoes. If it is accessible, these guys (who have a whole lot of information on the subject) suggest the best thing to do is to cut the connection between the transmitter and the antenna or microwaving it. Since they are usually mounted on a paper backing however, microwaving might be a good way to start a fire, so this should be the last resort. I wonder if it could be nuked in water? It is unfortunately not possible to kill them by hitting them with a magnet.

We can rest a little easier owing to the fact that if there is one thing we can rely on it is that there will be people out there that love nothing more than figuring out how to bust stuff. Here at Global Guerrillas, you will find an interesting discussion on how to create a portable HERF (high energy radio frequency) unit out of a cheap camera that can be used to blast these things.

A localized EMP in your hand – how cool is that? Just have to keep it away from the laptop and the pacemaker and we’ll be fine.

What Happens in Vegas, or, Waiting for Khan

Folks, here’s your chance to get in on the ground floor of a great investment. Forget the designer furniture or designer clothes, now you can have designer babies!

Yes, now the means are available to encourage the cultural prejudices that were, up until now, beginning to disappear. Some countries who value male children will have them, and other societies, such as Canada, will choose females. I think I’ll start saving my pennies now to start the international matchmaking service in about 18-20 years.

Make no mistake, the avoidance of genetic diseases is an important technology, but it still raises some troubling moral questions about the relative value we place on human life. But not nearly as big a moral and ethical question as being able to genetically manipulate your progeny to your specifications for cash.

The attitude of the ‘Doctor’ who offers this service insists that he is “serving the marketplace and helping Nature, not playing God“.

Uh, no. You are not helping nature, you are actively thwarting it. Yes, you are serving the marketplace, in that you are helping nacissistic clods who, when they have a child, will drive that child to the point of collapse, from the in-utero flash cards to the 18 weekly sport and music lessons these children will have to suffer through at 3 years of age. They are not after children, they are after possessions. Perfect little things, or at least, ideas of things that they can display with no sense of moral upset. But, once you’ve paid for them, can you return them?

Think about it – an unknown combination of genetic manipulations creates a generation of infants and children with debilitating, chronic illnesses. According to the rationale at work here, you have paid $20K for a defective product. Do you sue? Fine, I’d be surprised if they didn’t. But, you still have this child that you will never love quite the same way as the one in the catalogue. Your own, imperfect reflection of you and your need to outdo your neighbors. Make no mistake, that’s what this is about – you’re not thinking about the good of the child, the child doesn’t exist yet. You’re doing what’s best for you and you alone.

This is the type of ridiculously indulgent, unthinking, narcissistic behaviour that perpetuates the stigma that people with disabilities have to endure.

As any fellow geek may recognize, the title of this screed refers to everybody’s favorite genetically-engineered superman, Khan Noonian Singh (“KHAN!”). Who, if you think about it, wasn’t all that scary, since he was defeated by William Shatner.

Let’s hope the legendary Montreal-born thespian stays around at least until these kids grow up. We may need him.